STEYER’S SUPER PAC PICKS UP ANOTHER $500K IN OUTSIDE MONEY: Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee took in just over $8 million in July, but almost all of it was from Steyer’s own pocket, according to a disclosure filed last night with the FEC. Steyer gave another $7.5 million to the group last month, bringing the total he has put into the super PAC to $11.6 million. NextGen also reported getting $500,000 from Yvon Chouinard, the founder of outdoor clothing company Patagonia, as well as $1,000 from Patrick R. Little, an attorney from Auburn, Calif. That brings the total outside money raised by NextGen to $1,711,000. As of July 31, the NextGen Climate Action Committee has over $5.8 million cash on hand.

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Meanwhile, NextGen continues to spend big, with expenses last month totaling more than $6.5 million. That includes $1.4 million to a state-level NextGen committee in Pennsylvania; $250,000 to another state-level NextGen in Maine; $150,000 to the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund; $250,000 for the VoteVets.org Action Fund; $200,000 to American Bridge 21st Century; and $282,146.99 in reimbursements for staff time and overhead for NextGen Climate Action, a separate 501(c)(4). The super PAC also reported paying Boston-based Buzzards Bay Strategies more than $90,000 for grassroots consulting services. And NextGen sent the Senate Majority PAC $500,000, adding to a $5 million check Steyer funneled to the Democratic PAC via NextGen earlier this year.

Funding with us, not at us: Steyer, when asked about his fundraising progress at an American Renewable Energy Institute conference last week, acknowledged he has so far fallen short of his goal of matching the $50 million he is pledging to spend but said the overall effort should be sufficiently funded. “We have gotten a lot of people who I think would put in money alongside us as opposed to through us. Because I think people like, particularly people when they think they’re spending a lot of money, like to feel as if they have some control over it, and if it’s their effort,” Steyer said. “The question in my mind, the ultimate question will be, will we have enough money to run the programs that we think are necessary in these races and the answer to that is definitely yes.”

Just a reminder, Morning Energy will take a break starting Monday, Aug. 25 and return after Labor Day on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

WITH OIL TAX WIN, PARNELL SAYS TIME FOR OIL COMPANIES TO ‘PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS’: The Anchorage Daily News reports: “With his landmark tax legislation expected to survive Tuesday night’s vote, Gov. Sean Parnell says it’s now time for the oil industry to increase its investment in oil field projects that create jobs for Alaskans. As soon as he saw Senate Bill 21, or the More Alaska Production Act, was winning decisively Wednesday morning, Parnell began to get excited about the potential opportunities for Alaskans, he said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. ‘Immediately what came to my mind is it’s now time for companies to put their money where their mouth is, move those billions of dollars into work for Alaskans, and I began to get excited about the potential for Alaskans,’ he said.” ADN: http://bit.ly/1nbWSKy

MONTANA DEM TAPS ENVIRO LOBBYIST AS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Amanda Curtis, the Democrat recently picked to run for Montana’s Senate seat, last night announced her campaign will be managed by Clayton Elliott, the lead lobbyist and community organizer at the Northern Plains Resource Council, a a regional environmental group. "Clayton's leadership and grassroots organizing skills are just what this campaign needs to build on the grassroots movement that has sprung up across Montana," Curtis said in a statement. The NPRC was founded in 1972 by ranchers looking to combat a rise in coal mining, and the group now works on a number of issues, including renewables and energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture and landowner rights. More from MTN News: http://bit.ly/1s1ZxcF

NAM AD BUY GOES AFTER POTENTIAL EPA OZONE STANDARD IN KEY SENATE STATES: The National Association of Manufacturers is dropping moving into three states with critical Senate races with new radio and digital ads EPA ozone regulations as devastatingly costly. The group would not disclose how much it is spending on the buy. NAM released a report last month concluding that an ozone standard of 60 parts per billion could slash GDP by $270 billion annually while increasing energy costs and cutting jobs. (Refresher: http://politico.pro/1sVvlnN). The ad in Kentucky praises Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for “fighting the special interests every step of the way,” while spots in North Carolina and Colorado chastise Sens. Kay Hagan and Mark Udall for “letting Washington bureaucrats run our energy policy. The spots urge listeners to call the Democrats and tell them to “say no to unrealistic and costly new energy regulations.” Listen: http://bit.ly/1pPmKjQ

— EPA and others have criticized the NAM report as hypothetical at best. When the report came out last month, EPA noted it has not yet proposed any rule and said that “any economic analysis on a new standard would be premature at this point and not based actual agency actions.” And just yesterday, the liberal Media Matters for America summing up criticisms of the paper from green groups: http://bit.ly/XB8fWP

** Chevron is doing its part to help fuel America’s resurgence in home grown energy production and new manufacturing jobs by investing $21 million dollars a day. Get the latest energy related news from more than 500 influential voices in energy by visiting #EnergyInsider TweetHub. http://bit.ly/1kSks3n **

COURT TOSSES GREEN SUIT OVER RAILYARD EMISSIONS: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that environmental groups can’t use a citizen-suit provision in a 1976 solid waste disposal law to force railyards to cut emissions from diesel exhaust. Diesel particulate matter does not meet the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's definition of disposal of a solid waste, a three-judge panel wrote in upholding a lower court's dismissal of the lawsuit. The environmental groups that brought the lawsuit argued that the particulate matter was really just solid particles carried by the air before entering the land and water, but the judges weren't buying it. “We conclude that, by emitting diesel particulate matter from their railyards and intermodal facilities, Defendants do not ‘dispose’ of solid waste in violation of RCRA,” they wrote: http://1.usa.gov/1peSyyY

GROUPS DROP NEPA CEQ LAWSUIT — FOR NOW: Two groups yesterday dropped their lawsuit against the White House Council on Environmental Quality after the agency responded earlier this month to a 2010 petition to change NEPA regulations to require federal agencies to consider the effects of climate change. (ICYMI, Morning Energy covered that on Aug. 11: http://politico.pro/1BDdNiH). CEQ’s response to deny the petition means this lawsuit is now moot, the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety said in dismissing the case. But the groups are keeping their options open. “However, should they so decide, Plaintiffs preserve their right to challenge CEQ’s petition denial on its merits,” the groups wrote: http://politico.pro/1q12HxW

COAL MINE PERMITTING DOESN’T REQUIRE REVIEW OF HEALTH EFFECTS, JUDGE RULES: A federal judge ruled this week that when permitting mountaintop removal coal mines, the Army Corps of Engineers is not required to take into account the effects of coal mining on human health. Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled on Monday that the environmental groups that brought the suit against a proposed West Virginia mine made an “unavailing” argument. Copenhaver rejected environmentalist arguments that a number studies on the adverse health effects of coal mining should have been given greater consideration by the Corps. Ruling: http://politico.pro/XB4znO

— The environmental groups used the ruling to call for Congress to pass H.R. 526, a bill from Kentucky Democrat John Yarmuth that would place a moratorium on new mountaintop removal coal mining permits while federal officials conduct a study on the practice’s health effects.

WESTINGHOUSE WORKING ON NEW UTAH REACTORS: Westinghouse has signed a deal with Utah developer Blue Castle Holdings to work on building two new AP1000 reactors, the company said yesterday. AP 1000 is the type of reactor under construction at plants in South Carolina, Georgia and China, and Westinghouse is in talks to build more in the United Kingdom and Bulgaria. The proposed Blue Castle site, in Emery County, Utah, would employ about 2,500 people during construction of the two reactors, and would employ about 1,000 people full-time during the reactors' 60-year operating span. Of course, it will likely be years before the reactors could be approved by federal regulators and begin construction.

Good timing: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz talked up nuclear power yesterday at the Intermountain Energy Summit in Idaho. AP: http://bit.ly/1oTm4uQ

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: The Oil and Gas Division of North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources has set a hearing for Sept. 23 in Bismarck on transportation safety and the marketability of crude oil. The commission is considering changing field rules about oil from the Bakken and other sources, and wants more technical details.

THE TWEET HEARD ROUND THE WEB: Greenwire has a blow-by-blow account of what happened at EPA after a fellow inadvertently sent a Kardashian-related tweet last month. “The post had Obama administration press officials in panic mode, according to documents obtained by Greenwire. Under pressure from the White House, public affairs officials at EPA scrambled to remove the post and contain the media frenzy. The flurry of emails between EPA staffers, White House officials and reporters offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the administration's strategy for quashing public affairs problems that could be embarrassing to an agency that's constantly under siege.” More: http://bit.ly/1nb7LMs

** Chevron is doing its part to help fuel America’s resurgence in home grown energy production and new manufacturing jobs by investing $21 million dollars a day. Get the latest energy related news from more than 500 influential voices in energy by visiting #EnergyInsider TweetHub. http://bit.ly/1kSks3n **

** A message from Vet Voice Foundation: Tens of thousands of service members and veterans rely on public lands to hunt, fish, camp and heal from the wounds of war. These lands are part of the American heritage we fought for. As a new President and Congress look to rebuild America's infrastructure, we call on them to make an equal investment in maintaining our public lands and parks for our service members and all Americans. Support for our veterans must extend to investing in and protecting America’s natural heritage, for our children and grandchildren. www.VetVoiceFoundation.org **

Authors:

About The Author

Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro, where he covers EPA, regulations and coal, as well as lobbying and campaign finance in the energy realm. He previously wrote the Morning Energy newsletter. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., with a degree in anthropology and English. He is an avid reader and TV binger. The Delawarean, thrilled that there are finally Capriotti’s outposts in Washington, lives in Alexandria, Va.